How to be more credible to the business
Being more credible to the business is often the aspiration of many HR practitioners although they can frequently find this to be elusive. Often HR tends to focus on pushing best practice agendas rather than focusing on what the business actually needs. Many HR practitioners believe that the title HR Business Partner means taking a ‘centralised’ HR mindset and practices to the business rather than being seen by the business as an effective practitioner who can provide strong business advice to help them meet their objectives. HR is the practitioner’s specialism in the same way that finance or marketing is a specialism for other practitioners.
Get the basics right and practice what you preach
The business can expect you to get the HR basics right and that you have enough capability and integrity to ensure that you deliver higher competence levels than you expect from line managers. For example, a basic HR competency is ensuring that the HR Strategy is totally aligned with the business strategy. Always remain objective and holistic in your outlook, avoid group think and a silo mentality.
Spend some time outside of HR
To be credible it’s very important to have spent some time in your career working in other business areas so that you are able to understand and have experience in how business works (from a non HR perspective) and the difficulties that CEOs and the senior team face. Having solid operational experience enables you to have credibility and confidence when you proffer solutions to the business.
Learn to live in the grey – there is no black and white
Often there are no right or wrong answers only gradients of risk, so when you are advising the business be sure to recommend your preferred solution whilst notifying them of the risk or otherwise that they may be facing. Be sure to let them know that it is their decision not yours whilst being supportive and assertive if necessary. Live outside your ‘policy’ and where necessary rewrite it if it no longer suits the business.
Admit what you don’t know and pay attention
Never be afraid to admit what you don’t know and ask lots of questions to clarify the situation for you. One way to build understanding of the business is to do an ‘appreciation’ of it. This can mean spending time ‘on the shop floor’ understanding what it is like to work in that department as well as the particular components/needs of the department that is necessary for it to function well. For some functions/areas of the business you can get a good appreciation of it by asking pertinent and searching questions. Seek to find linkages so that you can build a holistic picture of how things work across the business. It is possible to see connections that are missed by ‘the line’ because they are solely focused on their on area of the business. It is here that you can add real value.
Focus on the outcome and not the process
One of the areas where credibility can be lost is when the process is being stuck to rigidly with scant regard to the achievement of the outcome that you are hoping to achieve. This can happen with any process not just HR ones, so be prepared to discuss with the business any concerns that you have that the processes in place are not designed to deliver the right outcome. A good example is bonus objectives that encourage managers to ignore good leadership principles in favour of attracting big bonuses.
Help the line achieve their objectives
Regularly ‘sit down’ with the line to understand what their objectives are, what are the drivers to their achievement and what obstacles that they face. Work together to find solutions that will enable the line to succeed in their endeavours.
Key points
v Ensure that you spend some time out of HR so that you can learn and understand business and be able to view things from a non HR perspective
v Live in the grey and understand that nothing is black or white – even HR policies!
v Focus on outcomes rather than processes
Tags: HR